Prior to British rule, Flatlands was known as Nieuw Amersfoort (named after the Dutch city of Amersfoort) and was established as a farming community when, in 1636, Andreas Hudde and Wolphert Gerretse bought 15,000 acres of land centered around what is now the intersection of Kings Highway and Flatbush Avenue. Crops typically grown in the area were beans, corn, marsh hay, squash, potato bean and tobacco. Oysters and clams were also farmed and harvested from Jamaica Bay, surrounding marshes and basins. The amount of farming done in the area also made Niew Amersfoort a slave town by necessity until the state declared emancipation of all slaves in 1827, after which black laborers took up farming jobs, many times on the farms they worked on as slaves.[2] Historic homes dated to the 18th century include the Stoothoff-Baxter-Kouwenhaven House. This historic monument, located at 1640 E. 48th St., New York, New York, couldn't be the original van Couwenhoven home but it was most probably built by the same family.